Concrete surfaces are commonly used for the floors of industrial and commercial cold rooms, including chillers, coolers and freezers. Concrete is suitable for such applications because concrete has relatively low thermal expansion, concrete is resistance to compression and can support heavy loads, concrete can be easily shaped and formed at a construction site, hardened concrete is relatively inert towards solvents, acids and caustic chemicals, and concrete is relatively inexpensive. However, untreated concrete surfaces are not resistant to abrasion from mechanical insults, such as the pulling of heavy objects across concrete surfaces or the impact of falling objects onto concrete surfaces. Also, untreated concrete surfaces are prone to producing a fine, abrasive dust that can degrade the quality of air within a cold room and that can cause significant mechanical damage to mechanical systems such as air compressors and refrigeration units. It is therefore desirable to treat concrete floors in cold rooms with chemical agents to render the surface of the concrete more resistant to abrasion and to control the formation and buildup of concrete dust that results from abrasion.
Commonly used chemical agents for treating concrete surfaces include silicofluorides along with sodium silicate, aluminum, or zinc sulfate, or drying oils like linseed oil or tung oil. Alternatively, silicon carbide, fused alumina, or finely divided iron/ammonium chloride preparations may be incorporated into liquid concrete in order to produce a harder surface in the final, hardened and air dried concrete product. Although silicon carbide, fused alumina, and finely divided iron-ammonium chloride preparations render a concrete surface more resistant to abrasion, they are not very effective in rendering a surface less dusty. Silicofluoride or drying oil treatments both harden concrete surfaces and render the surfaces less dusty, but may produce less than desirable results when applied at low temperatures. A need has therefore been recognized for a liquid preparation for treating concrete floors at low temperatures in order to harden the concrete floor surfaces and to prevent the formation and buildup of concrete dust.